So Close, yet So Far
by Eternal White Rose
Summary: Little snippets  all in one chapter  of EdWin moments. Please read the authors note at the end for more info.


**Hello, my name is Tsuku Koneko, otherwise known as Mrs Koneko Elric, and I am bored like hell.  
Other bored people: Hello Koneko…  
Koneko: -shudders- I got bored and I was watching FMA and then I listened to some of the openings and closings to the anime and then the song Bad Boy came on, and…-points to what you will read in a few moments- this was bored.**

**Disclaimer: -shakes head-**

**^^So Close, yet So Far^^**

Winry hated the military.

Ever since that day when Luitenant Riza Hawkeye and Colonel Roy Mustang stepped foot onto her property, her hate for the military grew stronger. Her parents had been killed in a war, for god's sake! She found it odd that she and Riza had become aquaintences after such a short period of time with her. It was Mustang that made Winry think that the military was all bad and deaths were normal.

He seemed like a…an 'I don't care about the world' type person, one who almost had no care about others (of course that's not true. Winry soon found out that he had feelings for Riza) and that was used as a toy for the military. She watched his back as he left after explaining to Pinako, Al, and an unresponsive Ed about the young alchemist becoming a military's lap dog. She had heard some of the conversation, and was not pleased.

As she talked with the old woman on her way back inside, she could hear the noises that Al's sleepless, emotionless body made, as he walked to stand by the dog. "I wanna do it."

Winry turned to Ed, her hair hitting her face only slightly. Those were the first words she had heard come out of his mouth in weeks, and even though his voice was shaky and almost uncertain, he mantained that confident fire in his eye, the same fire that Roy had seen. He turned his head to Winry, his gold eyes staring straight at her cerulean ones, as he spoke again, his voice loud and confident, "I wanna become a State Alchemist."

Winry, the stubborn ten year old girl that had known Edward for so long; the one who had gotten into so many fights-verbal and physical- exploded in pure rage at him. "Are you crazy? You can't really be serious about this!"

"But I _am_," Ed told her, gripping the arm of the wheelchair with his remaining arm. "The only way I could access information that could help both me and Al can only be obtained if I was military."

"There's no way in hell that I'm going to let you join the freaking military!"

"Winry Rockbell!" her grandmother called. "Watch the language that you use in this house!"

She muttered a small sorry before continuing. "What if you have to go to _war_?"

"I'll come back safely," he said calmly, refusing eye contact.

"And what if you _don't_? What if you _die_? I lost my parents in the war, and I don't really wanna lose my two best friends!"

Ed finally looked at her. His eyes haven't lost the fire within them, but they softened slightly at the words she had said. "Win," he started. "I survived losing an arm and leg. Do you really think that I'll die in war?"

"It's a possiblility," she mumbled back, and she heard Ed chuckle lightly.

"That's the best friend I know." (1)

**^^So Close, yet so Far^^**

Ed had been fitted for automail one year ago. Right about now, he was taking his State Alchemy exam. Winry stood with Al (he was sitting, since he was so big) on the biggest hill in Resembool. "Do you think Ed's gonna be okay?"

Al turned to the young twelve year old. "I'm sure he's fine."

Silence. That was all that was heard for a few moments. "Al," Winry started looking at the train station. "If Ed passes, are you guys gonna be leaving?"

Al turned to her. "Yeah," he replied.

"Oh."

More silence. "I don't want Ed to leave."

"Brother is thinking the same way."

"Really?" Winry asked in disbelief. "After what happened with his arm and leg, I would expect him to be excited."

"Atcually, Brother said that he wouldn't want to leave even if he had a gun held up to his head."

"Same old Ed," Winry said with a smile.

"Brother…he wants to protect you, Winry. Apart from me, you're the only family he's got."

Winry stared at the armor that sat next to her. She smiled slightly before looking back out at the field. "Yeah, you guys are like family to me, too. I'm just scared. I don't wanna loose Ed."

"Don't worry. He won't die as long as he knows that you're safe, Winry," Al told her. "I'm taking a wild guess here, but I'm thinking he likes you more than a friend."

"Pssh, yeah right," she said. "He's only my friend, there's never gonna be anything between us."

_I hope that Ed really does like me… _(2)

**^^So Close, yet so Far^^**

The next time Winry saw the Elric brothers, was four years later.

Ed had just fought with Scar, and his arm had been destroyed beyond repair. The only thing left intact was the hand, but even that part of the mechanical arm had lost a few fingers. After Winry had seen the damage done to them, she took out her anger on their faces, leaving bright red marks where her fist made contact with skin. She sighed. "And I'm kinda in a rush; can you get it done in about a week?" Ed asked.

Pinako looked at him. He needed his arm completely redone and a new fitting for a new leg, he atcually grew, and he thought they could get it done in a _week_? The old woman smiled at him. "Three days," she said as she picked up a spare leg and connected it.

Winry let out a deep sigh as she picked up his old leg. "Looks like I'm pulling off nothing but all nighters," she said to herself.

"Yeah, sorry to bother you about it," Ed apologised.

Winry turned around with a smile on her face. "Oh it's no problem, anything for my best-paying costumer."

That night while she was working, Ed stumbled into her room. He looked at her desk, looking at all the blueprints for new designs, some random words written on a piece of paper-

His eyes caught something. On a small little slip of paper he saw his initials. 'E.E' was written in neat handwriting. "Winry, why do you have my initials on a little piece of paper?"

Winry jumped slightly. She didn't hear him come inside. "It's a reminder."

"Reminder of what?"

She turned to him. He was inerffirring with her work but that didn't really matter. "A reminder that you'll come for either a check or a visit. That you still have a home to come to."

She went back to her work, leaving Ed speechless and shocked. After four years, she hadn't fogotten that promise he made to her?"

"_I promise that I'll come back for either a maintanence check or a visit one day…"_

"_Ed…" Winry started._

"_Just remember, okay?"_

"You remember," he whispered.

Winry didn't say anything as he left the room, smiling to himself. (3)

**^^So Close, yet so Far^^**

The conversation with Scar was something that Winry would never forget. She had pointed a gun at the Ishvalan but something in her gut told her not to shoot. It was when Ed jumped in front of her when her head filled with memories of the past. When Scar ran off with Al on his tail, Ed had turned around and began to pry her fingers off the gun, one finger for everything her hands had done in the past.

When the gun fell to the ground, he still kept her hand in his, explaining why she couldn't shoot the scarred man. Her shoulders shook as she grabbed the front of his red jacket and cried her hardest into his chest. His immideate response was to wrap his arms around her trembling body tightly; never wanting to let go.

Once the crying sufficed, Ed pulled away slightly and removed his coat and put it over her shoulders, sitting with her until the police came. He handed the gun to an officer, and explained to Winry that he had to leave. She held on tightly to his right hand, her grip slacked when she felt something cool touch the top of her head.

Her condition didn't allow her to blush but she only kept her grip on his hand. He began to back away, and Winry let go of the automail arm she had worked hard to make, reaching out moments later as if to call him back but he was running off in the direction Al took off in.

She put her arms through the sleeves, noticing that it was a perfect fit. She brought the edge of the fabric close to her nose, and inhaled deeply. Ed's scent filled her nose, and a smile tugged on her lips. It became clear to Winry.

Ed had not only risked his life for her, but he had _saved _her from dying. That smile never left her lips, and she was put into Ed's room in the HQ for emergancies. Instead of sleeping in the extra bed that was for Al, she slept in Ed's (she knew which was which. Al's was the one that was kept neat).

The scent of the one she loved filled her nose as she slowly drifted to sleep. (4)

**^^So Close, yet so Far^^**

Ed couldn't lose them. He just couldn't. If he lost Winry's earrings, he would pummel him with that wrench until there would be so much blood coming from his head that she would have stop so he wouldn't die. He wrapped them in a red hankerchief and put it in his pocket and on occasions, would stick his hand in there and feel the metal of the jewerly against his left hand.

Alphonse always accused him of 'fondling something'. When Roy heard about it, it was non-stop blabbering about it. Everyone in the office heard about it, and Ed wasn't left alone for more than a few minutes at a time. Ed soon explained that they were Winry's earrings and that he was feeling the metal between his fingers.

He even showed them the hankerchief. So the teasing ceased and the normal life of the Fullmetal Alchemist continued for a few more weeks.

After spending time in the cold area of Port Briggs, the Elric brothers were more than happy to return home to Central for a while. They visited Gracia and Elicia, had arguments with Roy (Ahem, _Ed _did). Ed never lost those small little pieces of jewelry; they stayed in his pocket throughout the course of his journey. He would often just put his left hand in his pocket on purpose to make sure that they never fell out.

They haven't yet. (5)

**^^So Close, yet so Far^^**

The only resonable thing is to blush, wait a few seconds then scream. That was exactly what Winry did after finding Ed in her room, _eating a sandwich _and staring at her as she _almost _took her shirt off in front of him.

Then everyone came in; the chimera's, Winry's 'bodyguards' or whatever they called themselves, Den and Greed. Some sort of war broke out. Winry walked over to Ed. "What is going on here?"

Ed sighed, "It's a pretty long story."

Winry pointed a finger at him. "More importantly, why are you in _my _room?"

Ed looked up at the ceiling. "Well, I like to eat while looking outside once in a while! I didn't know you were coming home!"

Winry put a hand over her face. "The blinds are closed."

"Uh…" Ed tried to pick up a lame excuse.

"Me and you are gonna have a long talk after this…"

Ed only nodded meekly. He felt like a little kid, being scolded by a mother. He saw Winry's brow twitch before she threw everyone out of the room with, "This is a girl's room, give me some privacy!"

She was breathing heavy with her wrench in her hand as she looked over at Ed who jumped in surprise. She turned to face him. Her face softened. "When'd you get back?"

"This morning," Ed replied, blinking a few times.

"Where's Al?"

"At the train station with Major Miles. I'm headin' over to Central for a little while; they're goin' to East City."

Winry nodded, feeling like she had accomplished something big. A one-on-one coversation with Ed was rare, usually Alphonse was with him. She heard Ed gasp, and he fumbled through his clothes. He pulled out a red hankerchief. "I still have these."

"What?" Winry asked, confused.

He opened the folded fabric up to show the silver earring she had told him to keep safe since they would cause her ears to get frostbite. "You kept 'em!"

"Of course," Ed grinned. "You would kill me if I didn't."

Winry wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. "I can't kill you even if my life depended on it! You're my best friend!"

Ed smiled warmly as he returned the hug.

*Later*

"U-Uh, Ed…can…eath…"

"Oh, sorry." (6)

**^^So Close, yet so Far^^**

Now, being happily reunited with Al, the trio is living at Winry's house. Pinako passed away a few years ago, Den followed suit. Of course, Al insisted that they bought a cat, so they did, just to make him happy. As the years went on, the cat had litters, Al refused to give away the kittens, and the kittens had litters, so he had to build a barn.

On some days, Al would find Winry and Ed on the porch sitting next to each other laughing. They finally began to act like normal people, no wrench throwing and destroying automail. Some days, Al would see Ed reach out and kiss Winry on the forehead, but nothing more.

…so explain the two little Elrics that followed a few years later.

**(1): I imagined this conversation between them. It seemed to fit, despite how they acted.**

**(2): **_**This **_**conversation **_**should have **_**happened in Brotherhood, but it didn't!**

**(3): I was watching episode six, and that popped into my head when Ed was going into Winry's room every morning and night.**

**(4): That was technically what I thought Winry did during the time period of Ed comforting her (Which I found undeniably adorable). Can you guess what Ed did that made Winry wanna blush?**

**(5): I love the part with the earrings, so I wanted to make it seem like Ed was uh, 'fondling' them in his pocket. He was teased by Mustang and I felt that the feeling was a little more…happy? Than the others.**

**(6): Dammit, I wanted Ed to give her the earrings in that episode, why didn't he? I'll never know.**

**So, that explains every little scene. I was thinking of putting this on 100 moments…it's a little too long to be 'one' moment, huh? So it's a separate one-shot.**

**PLEEZ R&R!**


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